Pages

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Big Gay Ice Cream: My new favorite food destination in New York City

I remember watching one of those Food Network/Cooking Channel shows a few years ago that talks about really cool places to eat across the country - something like The Best Thing I Ever Ate or Unique Eats, one of those two, I can't remember which. What I DO remember is that they featured a food truck called Big Gay Ice Cream that served grown-up soft serve. There was one cone that they featured that sounded so delicious AND seditious that I knew my next trip to NYC would include a cone at the Big Gay Ice Cream truck.

A few years have passed however, and Big Gay Ice Cream has had such a cult following and has been so popular that they ended up opening two brick-and-mortar shops around New York City.

From food truck to brick-and-mortar. This is their West Village location.

That is a fabulous unicorn

Big Gay Ice Cream has many comically named menu items such as the Monday Sundae, the Mexican Affo'gay'to, and the Bea Aruthr. But I was there for one thing: The Salty Pimp. Because really, it isn't very often that you get to go up to a food counter and say, "Two Salty Pimps please." That was quite awkward to say the least. But in the most awesome way possible. In fact, we'll have to say that it was awksome, a word coined by Carrie Harris's husband Andy at her Bad Hair Day event at Nicola's back in November. Because really, it's moments like ordering an ice cream cone called the Salty Pimp that are both awkward and awesome, therefore, awksome.

Big Gay menu

I'm here for one thing: The Salty Pimp

But despite the awkward name, the cone lived up to its cult following. That first bite was heaven. Vanilla soft-serve topped with dulce de leche, sea salt and then dipped in chocolate. I'm not generally a fan of soft-serve ice cream, but that's only because it's not usually coated in dulce de leche, sprinkled with sea salt and then dipped in chocolate. The sea salt balanced out the sweet of the chocolate and dulce de leche making this perfection in the form of soft-serve.

Behold: The Salty Pimp

Me enjoying my Salty Pimp - wow was that ever awkward to say ;)

So if you ever find yourself in New York City and have a hankering for ice cream, look no further than Big Gay Ice Cream. You'll be glad you did. And probably want to visit multiple times. In fact, maybe you should just look for a hotel nearby, just to be safe.